“Need an extra pair of hands?”
I jumped at the voice. “Jesus, Rose. Don’t do that,” I growled. We must have ended up in her condo.
“He all right?” Leo jerked his head at Ethan, who we had placed on the floor.
“He got knocked out,” I said.
“He’s bleedin’ all over my floor,” Rose groused.
“Then fucking help me dress his wound!” I was fried at this point. If anything else happened, my sanity would finally snap.
Rose shot me a look, but grabbed a roll of paper towels and bent over Ethan. She placed a bunch of wadded up ones on his head and pressed.
Leo ran to the front window. “Holy crap, that’s a lot of dead ones. How’d they get in?”
“Someone bulldozed the gate,” I answered. “You guys get any of the guns Henry was handing out?”
“Yeah, got one between us,” Rose said.
I took the gun bag and AR15 off my shoulder and passed the weapon to her. “You know how to use one of these?”
“I grew up in the south. Of course I know how to shoot a damn gun.”
“Don’t you need a weapon?” Leo asked.
“I’m much better with my Beretta.”
I crouched over the gun bag and began rooting for some more 9mm ammunition. I ejected the magazine in my gun and filled it up, pocketing as many bullets as I could. If I carried around the bag out there, it was one more thing for the infected to grab at so I would have to leave the bag there.
“You’re not going out there,” Zoe said firmly.
I was still crouched over the bag when I answered. “How else are we going to kill them? If we start shooting from in here, they’ll just swarm the building. We need to stay on the move as we kill them.”
“Then I’m going with you.” I could tell she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Us too,” Leo said.
“No, you need to stay here. Ethan is still unconscious.”
“You’re kidding. You want us to stay and protect the guy who turned you in?” Leo sounded half angry, half surprised. “You should’ve left him out there!”
I took a deep breath through my nose. “I wasn’t asking.”
Everyone looked at me like I had grown a conjoined twin in the last few seconds. I grabbed a box of shotgun slugs and shoved them at Zoe. She took them and reloaded her gun, then pocketed all that she could fit.
“I’m going to leave the ammo bag here. If they try to get in, shoot them. You should have enough rounds here to kill all that wander over here if you need it.”
I went to the windows and peeked out. The infected must have finished their … meals. Most were up and about again, while a few remained crowded over the fallen people—intent on cleaning the bodies down to their bones. I gulped as I thought of Roy. There won’t even be a body to bury. I would give myself time to dwell on that later.
“Zoe, stay right behind me. We’re going to try to lead them back out the gate. Whatever you do, don’t stop moving,” I instructed.
Zoe nodded. I must have sounded sure, but inside I wasn’t. This was a long shot and who knew how many mercenaries were still out there. All I knew was that if the infected converged on one condo, they would knock it down, and Ethan was still unconscious in this one, so we really didn’t want their attention to swing this way.
I took another deep breath and opened the front door. Here goes nothing.
Chapter 18
We bolted left, toward the opening where the front gate used to be. The infected saw us running almost immediately. Zoe let out a yelp as one made a grab at her. I turned and shot it.
“Use your gun,” I prompted.
I should have made her stay inside. She wasn’t ready for this. She bit her lip and straightened up, pointing the gun ahead of her. With her covering the back, we made our way down the sidewalk. It was getting brighter the closer we got to the raging fire. More than three condos had been swallowed and soon it would make its way down the rest of the street. I just hoped that it didn’t reach Rose’s condo before we could round up the infected.
We were popping off rounds, mostly hitting our targets. Zoe could take out more than one at a time with her shotgun. I, on the other hand, had to spend a few seconds aiming each time to avoid wasting bullets.
The infected really seemed to be focusing on Zoe. Any that came at me seemed to give up on me when Zoe was within range. One snuck past me as I focused on a different infected.
“Zoe, look out!” I screamed as I whirled around.
The thing flew at her, but she was faster than I gave her credit for. She jumped out of the way, causing the infected to fall to the ground. I lifted the foot with all my toes and brought it down on the growling head. As soon as I hit it, I released the mistake I had made. I fought the urge to yell as pain shot up my leg. I had forgotten about the gun graze wound.
At least I didn’t need to do that again. I had caved in its head with the one hit. It must have been really decayed.
“Keep moving.”
We returned to back-to-back formation, taking out the infected. The heat from the fire was oppressive, which gave me an idea. For some reason the infected wouldn’t get close enough to the fire on their own. Perhaps we should give them a push in the direction—perhaps literally. It wasn’t an elegant plan, and it meant we had to get close to the flames, but it might work.
“Zoe! The fire!”
“What?” she yelled, still focusing on the invading infected.
I had never faced so many infected at once. For a brief second, I felt like a cowboy in an old Western. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and it was better than any high I had ever felt. I knew I should be scared, but … I wasn’t. Was that the adrenaline or was it something else? Had I finally cracked?
“Let’s push them into the fire!”
She finally turned to look at me. She nodded, but her expression was tight. I didn’t need her approval of the plan, I just needed it to work. We gave up going back-to-back and both sprinted toward the inferno. Sweat coated my skin as we got dangerously close. The flames were wriggling in the air like worms breaching dirt. They were getting fatter as they ate away at more of the condos.
We stood our ground. I grabbed the closest infected by the scruff of its already torn shirt and tossed it into the flames beside me. It caught on fire instantly, not letting out a sound. It tried to get up, but the hotness of the fire burned its rotten body faster than it could move. Before it could get up, it sank to the ground. It had worked.
“Zoe, don’t touch them. Use your gun to bat them into the fire,” I said.
“What? Your way’s easier!” she yelled as she took an unsure step backward. The infected had caught up with us.
“I’m immune. You’re not. Keep them away from your limbs.”
The shotgun in her hands trembled slightly, but she still managed to club an infected that had dared to approach her.
I grabbed at another that had forgone an attack on me in an attempt to get to Zoe. Just like the old days at the bars. I whirled around to get momentum and threw infected into the fire. Well, maybe not just like the old days. The thing was still waving its arms as it went down. The clothes caught fire first, then the rest of it followed.
It was starting to smell as we managed to usher a bunch of them to their fiery deaths. My hands were soaked with perspiration, making it a bit difficult to grab at the infected. The last one I had tossed didn’t make it in as far as the others because of the pile of burning bodies we had created. It managed to escape the flames and walk back out. It was literally burning alive so I couldn’t get close to it without being burned.
Zoe saw this and ran at the burning infected with her shotgun in hand. She smacked it in the head, sending embers flying into the air like a damp log in a campfire. The thing flew back into the flames, finally lying still when it added itself to the pile. I was going to thank her when the fire crackled and exploded as it hit something inside the condo. I barely
had time to cover my face when we were tossed back from the pressure.
I scrambled up and helped Zoe to her feet. I felt around my person, making sure I wasn’t on fire.
“You’re good. Although, if we still have eyebrows after this, it’ll be a miracle,” Zoe said.
Paranoid, I touched at my brow to make sure I still had hair there.
“I think we’ve done all we can with this.” I looked around at the fallen infected who had been tossed by the explosion and the others that were currently being cremated. “It’s getting too dangerous to be near the fire.”
Gunfire went off inside the clubhouse across the street, drawing our attention. Zoe and I shared a look before running to the other side of the road. Zoe went to shoot at an approaching infected, but her gun clicked empty.
“I need to reload!”
Zoe was frantically reaching into her pockets to get to the last of her ammo. I fired at the infected she had been aiming at and it went down, but now my own gun was empty as the slide of the gun popped back. I steered her into the clubhouse as she shoved the slugs into the chamber. I thought shotguns could only hold two rounds, but I guess her model was a newer one as she loaded more than two rounds of ammo.
She was done in time to keep away the nearest infected. They were blasted into pieces, and some of those pieces had managed to rain down on us. I wiped away at the zombie chunk that had landed on my shoulder. The old me would have freaked out, but now it was nothing more than an annoyance.
I had no idea who was shooting inside the clubhouse, but we needed to get off the street so I could fill up my magazine. I motioned for Zoe to get low. In our crouching position, we approached the clubhouse door. I opened it a smidge, but didn’t see anyone in the immediate area.
“Where were the gunshots coming from?” Zoe asked as we snuck in.
I shut the door quietly behind us. There was no one in the main mess hall, but all the lights were off so I couldn’t be sure. The inferno outside was coming through the windows, making the shadows inside look like they were dancing. It was unnerving. And not to mention making it difficult to spot bodies.
“Maybe they’re in the kitchen looting,” I whispered back to Zoe.
Still crouched, we stuck to the walls and made our way to the back. My foot hit something and I fell over, landing on top of whatever it was. I pushed myself up with Zoe’s help and we stared in horror at the almost headless body lying on the floor. The mercenaries had blown the person’s head off—or at least had tried.
Carefully, I continued over the carcass. I could actually hear Zoe swallow as she passed over it. Whoever was back there was not getting away, not if I had anything to say about it. Once we got up to the door leading to the kitchen, I held my breath so I could listen. There was rustling and footsteps, but no one was saying a word.
“You ready?” I murmured to Zoe.
She looked terrified, with her eyes wide and her mouth set in a grimace.
“You stay here,” I said.
I could probably do this myself. Just point and shoot at everything. Easy.
She shook her head. “Like hell I’m letting you do this by yourself.”
“Zoe, look, I don’t—”
The door to the kitchen flew open. I tried to shoot my Beretta but it was kicked out of my hands as I was still in my crouched position. I went to dive for it but something connected with my head with such force that a blinding light exploded behind my eyelids. I couldn’t even let out a scream as my brain didn’t know which way was up and which way was down at the moment. My shoulder landed on something hard, my brain barely coming-to to register that I had fallen over. The pain was paralyzing. Like the worst headache you’d ever had in an instant. I wanted to vomit from the agony.
I struggled to clear my vision but the images in front me kept swirling, adding to the need to throw up. I clamped my eyes shut and when I opened them, all the bodies were in a different position in the room. It felt like I was watching a film through a pair of kaleidoscope glasses. Nothing felt real, more like a fever dream.
One very large guy ran at Zoe, who had backed away from me. She pulled the trigger, but the guy grabbed the barrel and yanked it to the side just before it went off. The pellets flew up into the air uselessly. He relieved Zoe of her shotgun and used it to whack her upside the head. She fell to the ground limp and the guy scooped her up, throwing her over his shoulder.
“I told you it was girl voices,” said another man.
He leaned down and grabbed Zoe’s shotgun. He started coming towards me, but was stopped as the guy carrying Zoe said, “Leave her. We need all the ammo we can to get out of here.”
“I wasn’t goin’ to shoot her. We can bring her too. You know Shawn likes his blondes.”
If my body had been working properly, it would have shivered.
“You see all those undead freaks out there, dumbass? You need your hands clear to take ‘em out since I got mine full,” the big guy said. “Now. Leave. Her.”
The guy gave me one last look before joining his large friend. I tried to reach a hand out to stop them, but my arms wouldn’t work. Zoe! I screamed inside. I blinked and they were gone, leaving me to fight the blackness invading my vision.
Chapter 19
A rough pair of hands shook me awake. “Bailey!”
I swatted them away.
Just five more minutes …
Piece by piece, my brain started to boot up. I sat upright and yelled, “They took Zoe!”
My hands flew to my head as the throbbing made itself known. “Ugh,” I groaned as I started to sway. A pair of hands steadied me. How long had I been out for?
“You should stay lyin’ down for a minute,” John said. It was his hands holding me upright.
“I’ll be good in a second,” I said, the swaying already starting to stop. The headache was still there, but my vision was clearing rapidly.
John gave me a slow smile. “Of course you will, but pushin’ yourself ain’t good for anyone.” His smiled faded and his eyebrows drew together. “I thought you were dead. We saw the headless body over there and then you on the ground.”
Why wasn’t I dead? I knew the big mercenary had said to save the bullets, but it was nothing for them to kill a person. Probably best to not overthink it.
Beside John were Rose, Leo, and Lucas. But no Ethan, and they were supposed to be watching him.
“Where’s Ethan?”
“Your boyfriend,” Leo said with distain, “is being watched by the girl who looked us over and two little girls.”
I sagged in relief. At least he was with Crystal and Chloe—safe. As much as I was pissed at him, I still cared for him.
“How long was I out for?” I asked.
“No idea, but it’s only been like forty minutes since I left you to find Crystal,” John answered. I couldn’t have been out for more than ten minutes then.
“How many fingers am I holdin’ up?” Rose said, shoving her middle finger into my face.
Leo swatted her hand away. “That’s the last thing she needs.”
I blinked, in too much pain to yell at her.
“We need to take you to Crystal. You think you can stand?” John asked.
“With some help.” I held out a hand and John grabbed it.
Slowly, he helped me to my feet. I stumbled a bit, but Lucas put a hand on my back, preventing me from falling back to the ground.
“Thanks,” I said.
Lucas just grunted in reply. I half expected him to bolt during the invasion. It was a welcome relief to see him still here.
“Now, there’s still infected out there and the fire, but the remainin’ mercenaries took off,” John said.
With Zoe. I hung my head. I hadn’t been able to save her, and now she was who knew where with those monsters. First Darren’s death, and now this.
“Except for the one we caught,” Rose added.
I lifted my head.
John shot her a glare and she looked to the floor.
“What do you mean you caught one?” I asked. “Alive?”
“Yes, but before we deal with him, you need to see Crystal so she can look at your head,” John said carefully.
“He could tell us where they took Zoe!” I said, trying to walk on my own. There was no time to lose. The longer we waited around, the further she got away.
John held me in place. “Crystal first. He ain’t goin’ anywhere, Henry will see to that.” His voice darkened when he mentioned Henry.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“They’re holdin’ him prisoner for right now. They killed Henry’s wife right in front of him.”
At least they hadn’t taken her. I shuddered, thinking of why they wanted Zoe. I would find her if it was the last thing I did. She would do the same for me.
“Fine, let’s go to Crystal,” I said.
As we left the clubhouse, everyone had their guns at the ready. John had scooped up my Beretta but refused to give it back to me until Crystal had me checked over. He was worried that I might accidently shoot him or someone else in my dizziness.
Guns fired all around me, making me wince. I wasn’t as bad as John had thought, but the loud noise was making the headache worse. I’d had a concussion before, at the apartment, and this wasn’t the same. This time everything cleared a lot faster. I could see and I was steady on my feet—well as steady as one could be while missing a toe—as soon as I had woken up. I really wanted to get to that mercenary so maybe I was telling myself I was in better condition than I actually was.
I stared at the flames. The fire had almost engulfed half of Hargrove by now. The first condo that had caught fire was now reduced to a smoldering heap while the flames moved on, intent on finishing the job.
“Don’t worry,” John said, noticing where I was looking, “we evacuated all the condos on that side of the street.”
“Where is everyone?” I asked hesitantly. I knew that wouldn’t be a pretty answer.
John made a face. “Everyone who’s left is either in the medic center or gatherin’ supplies for leavin’.”
This Would Be Paradise (Book 3) Page 12